Impact of Socio-Territorial Determinants on the Use of Emergency Services in Normandy
Since the 1990s, there has been an increase in the use of emergency departments in France. To reduce this use and prevent the overburdening of emergency departments, various measures have been implemented by public authorities (continuity of outpatient care, triage, prevention, etc.). Several previously documented factors may explain this increase, which is linked to healthcare practices. The objective of our study is to characterize the socio-territorial determinants of emergency department utilization rates in Normandy. The variables of interest studied are the number of emergency department visits with and without hospitalization for a municipality in Normandy. These variables were cross-tabulated with various sociodemographic variables, healthcare utilization variables, and population health variables. To identify the factors influencing emergency department visits followed by hospitalization or not, a negative binomial regression was performed, taking population size into account in particular. The main findings are that access to general practitioners emerges as a factor associated with lower use of emergency services, whereas the Fdep social deprivation score and travel time to an emergency department are factors that increase the number of emergency department visits, with or without hospitalization. The results vary by department of residence and by the severity of the reason for seeking emergency care. The results confirm that socio-territorial determinants do indeed have an impact on the number of emergency department visits in a municipality. The department of residence emerges as the factor with the greatest impact on variations in the number of emergency department visits between municipalities. These differences between departments reflect differing health policies as well as heterogeneous populations across these regions. These results highlight the pivotal role of local health policies, which must be tailored to each region and its population to facilitate access to care and reduce health inequalities.
Author(s): Courtillet Valentin, Martel Mélanie
Publishing year: 2025
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